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Professor Morteza Gharib and colleagues including alumni Derek Rinderknecht (PhD '08), Niema Pahlevan (PhD '13), and Peyman Tavallali (PhD '14) and Caltech visitor in medical engineering Marianne Razavi have demonstrated that the camera on your smartphone can noninvasively provide detailed information about your heart's health. "In a surprisingly short period of time, we were able to move from invention to the collection of validating clinical data," says Professor Gharib. [Caltech story]

Chris Roh a graduate student working with Professor Morteza Gharib, is a recipient of the 2017 Richard B. Chapman Memorial Award. His doctorate research combined his childhood love for insect and his newly found passion in fluid mechanics, investigating hydrodynamics of dragonfly larvae’s jetting and honeybees’ surfing.. The Richard B. Chapman Memorial Award is given to an EAS graduate student in hydrodynamics who has distinguished himself or herself in research.

On April 19, 2017 Electrical Engineering alumnus Evangelos Simoudis (BS '83) moderated a panel titled "The Road Ahead: A Panel on the Future of Driverless Vehicles," hosted by the Caltech Associates. The panel members were Professors Mory Gharib, Richard Murray, and Pietro Perona, along with Reuters automotive industry reporter, Paul Lienert. They discuss a variety of opportunities and challenges associated with autonomous technologies and systems. Beyond the legal and ethical challenges, several technological obstacles must be overcome before driverless cars become common on the road. One key challenge is teaching driverless cars how to read the behavior of other cars and react accordingly. Professor Perona described the problem of a car attempting to merge onto a crowded freeway. A driverless car would see an impenetrable wall of vehicles, but a human driver could edge forward and wave at other drivers to work his or her way into the line of traffic. [Caltech story]

Caltech senior trustee Charles Trimble (BS '63, MS '64), founder and former chief executive officer of Trimble Navigation, Ltd., is the 2016 recipient of the International von Kármán Wings Award. He was recognized for his visionary leadership contributions to the aerospace industry, and distinguished service to the nation's defense and aerospace programs. "In addition to his pioneering contributions to GPS commercialization, Charlie has had a big impact on Caltech and JPL," Professor Gharib stated. "As an alumnus and trustee, he deeply understands the needs of Caltech and serves the community with dedication and insight." [Caltech story]

Professor Morteza Gharib was one of the speakers at a recent symposium celebrating the Caltech–City of Hope Biomedical Research Initiative which provides seed grants to accelerate the development of basic scientific research and its translation into biomedical applications. Professor Gharib’s presentation was focused on measuring the ejection fraction, the fraction of blood that is ejected from the heart with each heartbeat. The group has designed a small piece of hardware that can connect to an iPhone and calculate a patient's ejection fraction—for less than $8. The device, called Vivio, gives comparable results to a cardiac magnetic resonance imaging, the gold standard in the medical industry for measuring heart health. [Caltech story]

In appreciation for the opportunities Caltech afforded him, Professor Mory Gharib along with his wife Shoreh and daughters, Maral and Alma (PhD ’15), have created an endowed fellowship fund to support new generations of Caltech graduate students. “Mory’s story is an inspiration to us all,” says Caltech president Thomas F. Rosenbaum. “Setting the highest scientific standards, searching for technological interventions to better people’s lives, creating community, and serving that community through personal dedication and philanthropy are qualities rarely found in one individual. We are proud to have Mory as a colleague and his family as members of the Caltech family.” [Caltech story]

At the "Innovation in Aerospace" forum held at Caltech —part of the Idea 2 Innovation series cosponsored by Innovate Pasadena and Caltech—three of the aerospace industry's biggest companies discussed some of their most exciting new ventures. Northrop Grumman's Starshade project could help find life on other planets. Boeing's new unmanned Echo Seeker submarine is capable of diving 20,000 feet below sea level. Lockheed Martin's new imaging technology could radically shrink the size of space telescopes, making it far more efficient to send them deep into space. [Video of event] [Caltech story]

Mechanical engineering undergraduate student, Teo Wilkening, spent this past summer working with Professor Gharib to test the preliminary design for an alternative—and possibly much less painful—method of chemotherapy drug delivery through a patch. To avoid the pain caused by the large needle traditionally used for such an intravenous injection, the team envisioned a patch containing hundreds of micrometer-scale needles, too small in diameter to be sensed by the nerves in the skin. [Caltech story]

The Society of Engineering Science (SES) has selected Professor Morteza Gharib to receive the G.I. Taylor Medal. The award is made in recognition of Professor Gharib's sustained and outstanding research contributions to the area of fluid mechanics. Sir Geoffrey Ingram Taylor (G.I. Taylor) was a British physicist and mathematician, and a major figure in fluid dynamics and wave theory. Past recipients of the medal include Sir James Lighthill, Sydney Goldstein, A.Acrivos, and George K. Batchelor. [List of past recipients]

In October 2016 a symposium will be organized to honor Professor Morteza Gharib. It will highlight innovative fluid mechanics research in areas where he has made significant contributions. Invited speakers will cover his contributions to quantitative imaging, cardiovascular flow, surface wettability, Micro/Nano fluidics, bioinspired design, and other areas. [Symposium program]